


Pair

by Paragon_Parallax



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, I just keep making stuff up, Soulmates, Total AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 08:18:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14101245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paragon_Parallax/pseuds/Paragon_Parallax
Summary: It was only the two of them. Soulmate AU.





	Pair

When Rey slept, she had never known anything different. Ben was always there and together they always roamed the same abandoned building. It was a hospital, one neither could remember actually being in before. It was a second home to the both of them.

* * *

"You're a meanie," She told him when he didn't like her new dress. She was only 5 and that seemed like reason enough to not want to talk to him again.  
"Why does it matter if I like it or not?" he scowled at her. Even as a child, his features could be seen as menacing, but Rey stood unaffected. She stuck her tongue out at him and ran as fast as she could until she woke up.

* * *

"Shut up, Ben, I'm trying to concentrate." She played an old game on one of the waiting room's TV. She was down the last few circles and she wanted her guy to gobble them up.  
"You play this stupid game all the time and you always lose. Just give it a rest". As he said this, one of the ghosts trapped her character in the corner and Rey quickly turned the game off before succumbing to defeat.  
"Why did you have to open your stupid mouth!," she shrieked at him, lunging to tackle him. He ran off calling her names and she followed on his heels. Their laughter echoed down the hallways.

* * *

"Do you every wonder why its only ever us two?" Ben asked her. They were sprawled out on one of the couches in a patient lounge. Rey had half a mind to kick him, but resisted.  
"I'm not good enough?" she pouted, sticking her lower lip out. She knew he hated when she did that. He always told her she looked like a "big fat baby" with her lip jutting out. Her expression didn't escape him and he launched a pillow at her.  
"That's not what I meant and you know it." She smiled at his words before shooting the pillow back at him.

* * *

When middle school came, she moved planets to attend one of the largest schools in the Republic. It was both prestigious and demanding, only for the best and brightest.  It was hard enough for her to make friends at the smaller school she had been at, but here it was overwhelming for her to even strike up a conversation with one of her thousands of classmates. Rey hated every moment of it. She slept as often as she could.

* * *

"What's with your face?" he asked her. They rocked on swings in the central courtyard. Rey's toes dragged in the dirt, slowing herself down.  
"What's wrong with it?"  
He paused, heels digging into the ground to keep him from moving. He regarded her for a few moments before pushing back up and swinging again.  
"Just forget it. You look just as dumb as usual."  
She wasn't sure if that hurt or not.

* * *

Over the next year, she felt as though she didn't grow at all, but every time she saw Ben, he was taller.  
"You look like a wet noodle." She laughed at him as she caught their reflections in a mirrored wall. He scoffed at her, shoving at her shoulder.  
"Maybe you should try growing sometime. You still look like a 10 year old." Her face grew hot with embarrassment and she stomped off, trying to lose him in the maze of hallways. But they both knew them too well.

* * *

"What grade are you in?" He asked one day. He had been exceptionally quiet up until now, which was almost unheard of. It struck Rey as odd that he didn't know. Then again, she didn't know what grade he was in. She didn't even know where he went to school, but she could recite a laundry list of his likes and dislikes. She knew he could do the same for her. She put down the gauze she was absently wrapping around her hand for entertainment.  
  
"I'm in 8th. What about you?"  
  
"9th."

* * *

At her promotion ceremony, she met Finn. Amidst the crowded auditorium, he actually managed to knock himself directly into her back, sending her face first into the low carpet.  
"I'm so sorry!" he slurred, trying to help her back onto her feet. She looked him over, and after not being able to place him, she introduced herself with a smile. He smiled back and after that, they were inseparable.

* * *

"I really don't care. Just shut up about him." Ben snapped out. She was telling him about how Finn was taking most of the same classes as her this year. She bit down on her tongue to keep her eyes from watering. She hated when he talked to her like that. She had never wanted to wake up this badly.

* * *

Rey figured out that if she didn't want to, she could avoid dreaming. If she set it in her mind, hard as marble, she would close her eyes and wake up in the morning. So she did just that and it became cemented into routine. It was a long year.

* * *

"So you know that girl, Rose? From math?" Finn grinned. It was infectious and Rey returned it gladly.  
"Yeah, of course. She stares at you like all class period." It wasn't an exaggeration. Rose was pretty and she always answered the questions correctly, even when spending the class looking at Finn. _Really_ looking at Finn. Rey wondered how she did it.  
"Well I have these dreams about her. Its always just the two of us and we're at school alone. Its really weird." Rey feigned ignorance when Finn asked if she ever had that happen to her. She wasn't sure why.

* * *

When Rey went to sleep, it was like nothing had changed. Because it never had. She could reconstruct the building from her memories alone.  
  
But Ben wasn't there.  
  
She went every night after that, spending her time looking for him. She thought he maybe could just be hiding from her. As the nights passed, she figured he was avoiding her, like she had avoided him.  
  
"Ben, you're being an asshole! I know I did the same thing you're doing, but you're older and you should know better!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. It echoed eerily in the hallways. She continued her plight, if only to make herself feel better.  
  
"Fuck, Rey. Shut up." She spun on her toes at the sound of his voice. It was as familiar as her own, but it made her chest tighten unexpectedly.  
  
"Where were you?" She asked, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets. She wanted to hug him, her fingers ached for it, but she wouldn't. Something about it made her uncomfortable. He looked different than she remembered. He was taller still and his hair that was always unruly was longer than it ever had been.  
  
"Where was _I_? I was fucking sleeping. Where the hell were you when you left me here alone? At least I didn't run around here screaming like an idiot." His eyes were even darker than usual. It worried Rey, like maybe she shouldn't have left him here by himself. They were all they had here.  
  
"You heard me yelling?" He paused at this, like he hadn't really considered the implication of that before she said it aloud.  
  
"Yeah, I did." His eyes narrowed at her. Something about the realization made the air heavy between them, as if they had somehow become more real than before.  
  
They sat a waiting room and talked about everything that had happened in Rey's year gone. If he was still mad at her, he didn't show it.

* * *

"Why do you think you have those dreams about Rose?" She asked Finn one day. He looked slightly startled. Normally when he brought this subject up, Rey didn't want to talk about it.  
  
"Apparently we're a Pair. When you meet someone who's important in your life, wherever you meet them, you continue to use that as a meeting place in your mind." It sounded so stupid to Rey.  
  
"Is everyone a Pair?"  
  
"No, and apparently its happening less and less. My parents aren't a Pair, but my grandparents were."  
  
"Why don't they, I don't know, teach us about this in school?"  
  
"Some things can't be taught, Rey." He said it so 'matter of fact'-ly, it came out almost smug. She wasn't buying it.

* * *

"Have you heard about Pairs?" Rey was never much for subtlety. She sat on top of a desk alongside Ben as he sat at the chair, doodling on patient charts. He dropped his pen and looked up at her.  
  
"What do you know?"  
  
"What do you mean, what do I know? What do _you_ know." She was seething, fingers biting into the edge of the desk. He hesitated before picking the pen back up and began scratching on the paper again.  
  
"Don't ignore me." Rey warned, snatching the pen from him. For dramatic effect she threw it behind her. It clattered along the floor.  
  
"You're acting like a child."  
  
"Stop talking to me like we're not equals, Ben." She spat. She wanted to punch him in the face. She settled on crumpling up his papers.  
  
"Well, _Rey_ , look at how you're acting." Even if it was true, she would have none of his talking down to her. It was unsettling that he wouldn't answer her, so she hurled the only real ammunition she had.  
  
"If you don't tell me, I won't come back." He scowled at her, fury building behind his eyes.  
  
"Yes you will." He sounded certain. More certain than she would have in his shoes.  
  
"Try me." It was a solid moment of heated glares being exchanged. Neither one wavered even slightly, much to Rey's dismay. She was about to hoist herself off the desk in another show of seriousness, but he broke the silence.  
  
"Okay, I knew. I've known for a while but, I mean, what do you want from me? What if I told you and you thought I was a liar? Or what if I told you and it changed something. I never wanted what you felt to be contingent on some dumb Force shit." He looked exasperated as he ran a hand through his hair. His eyes searched her face for anything, but whatever she was feeling was gone. Evaporated. She felt empty, almost sick. She wanted to ask what he meant, but she already knew. She knew him better than anyone else, anything else.  
  
"You're an idiot." She smiled. 

* * *

He wasn't there for a week.  
  
So she didn't come for two.  
  
She was settled into bed, texting Finn about their chemistry homework. It started as a feeling, a creep up her spine. It set goosebumps along her arms. It grew to a muffled noise that as she concentrated began to become clear. Her heart pounded at an erratic pace and she dropped her phone on her nightstand hurriedly. She couldn't get to sleep fast enough.

* * *

"Are you going to keep yelling like that?" She asked. She turned to her and looked frantic.

"Why weren't you here?" It was clipped and accusatory. His brows were knit tightly together. She didn't have an answer, not really, so she gave him a small shrug.

It happened so quickly that she couldn't have avoided him if she wanted to, but she didn't. His lips were on hers, arms pulling her flush to him. She didn't know what to do. All she knew is that she liked it. She liked when he pulled away briefly to look at her before coming back for seconds, and thirds. She wound her fingers through his hair to keep him from pulling away again. He didn't.  


**Author's Note:**

> If anything sounds rough, its because I wrote it in one session and I'm sleep deprived. Someones gotta steer the ship.


End file.
